Peacebuilding is not possible without involving all community steakholders working together against hate speech phenomena, contributing towards society that respect human rights, is not discriminatory and is inclusive and solidary.
Young people are one of the key actors in social change! Building capacities of youth workers both in formal and non-formal education in the precondition to involve youth in peace education and provide them with a space to practice concrete activities that brings positive community changes.
Local Democracy Agency Sisak partnering in the project WalkON: Walking the path of reconciliation – empowering communities for a peaceful society that develops diverse educational tools and approaches and brings the reconciliation discourse to grassroots level, making it more sensible for the communities and reaching out to the youngsters as direct change makers.
Over 20 youngsters and youth workers participated at the 10-day international training in Albanian Durres this May 2021, learning together causes and consequences of the hate speech, non-formal learning in the youth work and designing its own educational modules supported by the experts.
Training „Roots and branches of hate speech“ gathered participants from 6 European countries learning together and, very important, spending free time together that gave them an opportunity to get to know their peers from other countries and cultures and create network of associates for future activities.
Ivana Šadek, Matija Koški, Mia Nikšić i Ivana Šalić participated on behalf of the Local Democracy Agency Sisak, came back excited with Albania, trainers and people they met and would like to participate at similar activities again.
Their massage is: New experiences bring new knowledge; we all should leave our comfort zone from time to time.
Mia Nikšić participated at the non-formal education for the first time:
I had no particular expectations and idea how it might look like but after this 10 days, I completely change my mind and I am very pleased with the outcome. We all managed to connect; it was incredible.
Follow up activities are local workshops during June and July 2021 for teachers and youth workers tailored for local context.
If you are interested in the topic, please read the research and policy developed within the project:
Status Quo on Reconciliation and No Hate Speech! Tools and Resources Available
State of Play – Reconciliation and No Hate Speech in Western Balkan Region
New Age of Reconciliation – Generation Z as the Engine
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Project “WalkON: Walking the path of reconciliation- empowering communities for a peaceful society funds European Union within the Erasmus Plus program. Project leader is the Beyond Barriers Association (Albanija) and Local Democracy Agency Sisak one of the partners.
This text reflects the views only of the Local Democracy Agency Sisak, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
